In your "Urgent News, Articles
and Updates" section of your website, you have a pdf
file FBI poster of an unidentified murdered Marine
with Marine Corps tattoos asking the online
community who he is. A forum called Websleuths.com
has a thread there about the unidentified murdered
Marine with Marine Corps tattoos and they announced
the PA state troopers investigating the case think
have a match on who he is. He might be Robert
Daniel Corriveau. Here is the link to that
thread where they announced a match.

Stolen valor occurs when a person lies about receiving military
decorations that he or she has in fact never earned. It has
become a major societal problem that has been discussed numerous
times in the news and, most recently, by the US Supreme Court.
According toThe New York Times,
the Department of Veterans Affairs paid disability benefits to
more than six hundred people falsely claiming to have been POWs
in the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars. The number of stolen valor
cases reported to the FBI has tripled in the last decade. In
fact, more imposters lie about earning high military
declarations for battlefield bravery than the actual number of
real-life hero recipients. These imposters trade on tales and
the trappings of military valor to secure privileges such as
career advancements and even unearned veterans’ benefits.Because officially
recognized valor is a calling card of trust and courage, many of
these imposters “steal” it to invade the lives of people and
institutions, for personal gain and often with criminal results.
InRestoring
Valor, Doug Sterner provides riveting case studies of
the stolen valor imposters he’s investigated and exposed, and
the serious crimes — including murder — they’ve committed. He
chronicles the evolution of stolen valor from the inception of
the republic to today. Sterner demonstrates why the federal law
he and his wife Pam helped to enact, called the Stolen Valor
Act, is necessary.

The SVA remains a good idea in principle, but the
phony (Carmine Cannarella) was charged with "False Use
of Seals". The
charge is attached. Not because of any problem
foreseen with the SVA (the Supreme Court challenge was
still in the future), but because the SVA was almost
always a misdemeanor. "False Use of Seals," though was
less sexy, is a felony.
Phonies should be felons, when possible. Pass the word.

... Doug Sterner, a former Kalispell resident whose wife wrote
the policy analysis that became the original Stolen Valor Act,
said he’s pleased with Congress’ efforts to keep the issue at
the forefront.

“It is a very good thing,” Sterner said about the amendment
Friday. “It eliminates the need to amend the House Bill [Heck's]
or the Senate Bill [Webb’s] to make the two compatible. If the
House passes the Defense Authorization Bill ... it becomes
law upon signing of the act by the president.”

Google "Stolen Valor and Supreme Court" - there are
hundreds of articles on the oral arguments held Feb 22.

===================

Hello, my grandfather was a WWII vet whose plane was shot
down. He had shrapnel in his leg and was taken as a POW. He
eventually received a Purple Heart as well as some other
medals. It infuriated me to know others were lying about
military honors for there own gain because of this and the
fact I have many friends actively serving our country. I am
in law school and decided to
write a
paper for our Public Law Review regarding the issue. I
did a lot of research on the issue and I believe the paper
gives people a good background on the issue. .....

10th Circuit upholds Stolen Valor Act

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals this morning upheld the
Stolen Valor Act, which makes lying about having received
military awards a federal crime.

Attorneys for Rick Strandlof, who claimed to be a decorated
combat veteran, had argued that the act was an unconstitutional
violation of free speech. A federal district court judge agreed,
dismissing the charges against Strandlof......

California Stolen Valor Act heads to
Governors Desk

SACRAMENTO -Assemblyman
Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley) announced that AB 167 gained
the final approval of the Legislature. The bill will
force elected officials to forfeit office if they are
convicted under the California Stolen Valor Act. Under
current state law, an elected official must be convicted
of the federal Stolen Valor Act in order to be forced to
vacate office. The federal Stolen Valor Act states that
it is illegal for a person to make a false claim of a
military decoration. Unfortunately, the federal law has
been challenged in court due to First Amendment issues.
This is due to the fact that the federal law does not
include an “intent to defraud” provision; the California
Stolen Valor Act contains such a provision.

01/2011

We have a
District Court in California and a District Court in
Virginia BOTH upholding the SV Act, with a District
Court in Colorado ruling it unconstitutional. And a 2/1
split in the 9th Circuit Court meaning:

Assemblyman Cook's AB 265,
also signed by the governor, pertains to the federal Stolen Valor Act of
2005. The act made it illegal for people to misrepresent themselves as
recipients of military honors. The bill expands on the Stolen Valor Act
and extends the forfeiture of office to state elected officials for
misrepresenting themselves as recipients of the various medals and
decorations for bravery, wounds, campaigns, service or rank.